The Political Economy of Football V2

Manchester City has become a template for using a sporting venue as a springboard for the regeneration of one of the city’s poorest areas. Construction work around that ground has been in progress for years. At present, the club is building a new 400-room hotel next door, alongside new retail and restaurant space. It is the latest part of the club’s local investment, which began a few years after a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family bought the team in 2008. The area now houses City’s training centre, a stadium for its women’s team, and more recently the Co-op Live arena, a music venue co-owned by the club that can host 23,500 people. Ultimately, local leaders and the club are planning for new development to spread from Eastlands two miles along the canal to the city centre, through a series of derelict and unregenerated areas. Eastlands has since become “the poster child” for sports-led urban regeneration, according to Jason Prior of infrastructure consultancy Aecom.   ...

The US owners of newly promoted Leeds United, 49ers Enterprises, are also planning significant work to add 20,000 additional seats to the team’s Elland Road stadium, which has a current capacity of just under 38,000. The Yorkshire club’s ownership group also includes Peter Lowy, part of the family that controls Australian real estate group Westfields. Leeds chair Paraag Marathe told the Financial Times that the club has “acquired options” on several plots of land adjacent to the stadium with an eye to future development, but points to transport bottlenecks similar to those in Birmingham.  “There’s totally an opportunity to redevelop [the area] because as the crow flies, Elland Road is really close to the city centre,” he told the Pink ‘Un. “[But] it’s complicated to get to — that’s why there’s been a two-decade long effort to get light rail out there. And so we’re still trying to fast track that as well. But there’s just so much opportunity.” Cities outside London have long s...

Stadium rebuilds and upgrades are all the rage in football right now. Big clubs are in an arms race to create venues that maximise revenue, from high rolling fans quaffing champagne in hospitality, curious tourists wanting to snap selfies in the team museum, or from music lovers willing to splash our to big name artists perform on the pitch. Small clubs want a piece too, in an effort to avoid being completely left behind. To do all this, some are appealing to central governments for funding — ostensibly to improve transport links and set up the area for long-term economic growth.    The Financial Times lays out the broad strokes of that debate in England in their  latest Big Read , which takes you on a tour around Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. Transport is just one of the major hurdles these stadium projects face. Planning can be slow and cumbersome, especially as most existing venues sit in the middle of densely populated residential areas. J...

Paris Saint-Germain and Internazionale go head to head in the Champions League final later today. The French heavyweights would be first-time winners, while the Italian Serie A runners-up are chasing a fourth triumph. Off the pitch, the two clubs say a lot about the state of the game. PSG are owned by Qatar Sports Investments, a vehicle of the Gulf state that took majority ownership of the club from 2011. Distressed debt investor Oaktree seized control of Inter from Suning last year after the Chinese retail group failed to repay a €400mn loan in time. Whereas Inter will feel confident of defying the odds after beating FC Barcelona in the semi-finals, the Italian club’s finances are also overshadowed by PSG. The French side’s operating revenue, bolstered by sponsorships with Qatar Airways and Visit Qatar, came to more than €800mn in 2023-24, roughly double the equivalent figure at Inter, according to Football Benchmark. PSG’s staff costs of €659mn equated to 82 per cent of those...

A takeover of Rangers by a US consortium including the investment arm of the San Francisco 49ers has been completed:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cqj7gj2w0k5o £20m will be made available for investment over the summer and it looks like a new era for Rangers fans. 49ers Enterprises are the owners of Leeds United.    This will mean Leeds have a new sister club contained within the 49ers' sporting sphere of influence. However, the running of the two clubs will remain largely separate, aside from standard industry information sharing and promoting strategy best practice. A spokesperson for 49ers Enterprises Global Football Group said: “The strength of our commitment, resources, and ambition for Leeds United remains unchanged. We look forward to competing in the Premier League next season.”

Under the American franchise system, politicians are eager to attract sports stadiums to their cities.  They offer tax breaks, transport links and even help with construction costs.   American investors in UK football are familiar with the idea of persuading politicians that their stadium plans can bring public benefits.   Politicians are often susceptible to 'grand projects' and sport can be glamorous and associated with concepts such as inclusion, well-being and fitness. There is a large literature on the economic benefits or otherwise of stadium construction.   It is well summarised by Victor Matheson in a 2019 article: 'The case in favor of subsidizing large sports facilities is much harder to make than the one against. The peer-reviewed literature typically finds little or no evidence that the construction of new professional sports facilities results in significant increases in any type of measurable economic activity including personal income, ...

The Premier League’s status as the richest domestic league in global football has been underlined by a new report into European club valuations, with nine of the top 20 coming from England. Now in its 10th year, the Football Clubs’ Valuation report is published by the Budapest-based Football Benchmark Group and it ranks the top 32 clubs in Europe by enterprise value, which is the total value of the club’s equity plus its net debt. As always one has to caution that these reports are a product of their chosen methodology and should be seen as indicative rather than definitive. Having become the first club to achieve an enterprise value of €5billion last year, Real Madrid burst through the €6bn mark this year to top the ranking with a valuation of €6.3bn (£5.2bn; $6.5bn) this year, almost £1bn clear of Manchester City in second place, with Manchester United not far behind their cross-city rivals (which will surprise some). While Football Benchmark believes that Manchester United’s e...

The scale of Manchester United’s underachievement has been highlighted by a financial analysis that rates their performance last season compared with money spent as one of the worst ever by an English club. United had the third-highest outlay in the Premier League on wages, transfers and agents, behind Manchester City and Chelsea, but finished in 15th place on 42 points. The analysis suggests that was 33 points fewer than the club should have achieved. Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur were the next biggest underperformers, while Nottingham Forest were the biggest achievers compared with their spending, followed by Brentford and Brighton & Hove Albion. The analysis, carried out for The Times, was based on figures reported in clubs’ most recent annual accounts (2023-24) to measure spending on wages and amortisation, which reflects the outlay on transfers over several years, as well as on agents’ fees for the 2024-25 season. The sports intelligence agency Twenty First Gro...

Milan fans staged a remarkable protest against the club’s ownership ahead of their Serie A match against Monza on Saturday. Protests were held ahead of the game outside the club’s Casa Milan headquarters, where around 5,000 ultras gathered before marching to the club’s San Siro stadium. There were nostalgic chants for the club’s iconic former captain Paolo Maldini, who made a record 902 appearances for Milan and who was sacked from his directorial role by the current ownership, and for the late Italian prime minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, the club’s most successful owner. Milan ultras lined-up ahead of Saturday’s match to spell out the message ‘Go Home’ in the Curva Sud, with chants demanding RedBird Capital’s Gerry Cardinale sell his stake in the club and leave.

Some highlights of Premier League club finances in 2023/24 provided by the Swiss Ramble. In 2023/24 no fewer than four clubs made more than £100m from player sales, namely Chelsea £152m, Manchester City £139m, Brighton £110m and Nottingham Forest £101m, while West Ham weren’t too far behind with £96m. Four clubs generated more than £100m from match day income, namely Manchester United £137m, Arsenal £132m, Tottenham £106m and Liverpool £102m, while three clubs made less than £10m (Burnley £9m, Bournemouth £7m and Luton Town £6m). The Premier League’s other expenses, effectively a club’s running costs, have also massively grown in the past decade, rising from £670m to £1.5 bln. Costs dipped during the pandemic, but have shot up since then, first due to higher costs for staging matches with fans, then because of the impact of higher inflation, especially on services and utilities. Fans often overlook this cost category, but each of the Big Six now pay well over £100m, led by Manche...

For years, the German town of Bielefeld has been the butt of a national joke: that it doesn’t exist. On Saturday, its football club Arminia Bielefeld will have a chance to put the city squarely on the map, by lifting the German Cup in Berlin. Facing top-tier VfB Stuttgart, the third-division side is eyeing the first major trophy in a 120-year history marked by as many stumbles as successes. Bielefeld played in the Bundesliga as recently as 2022, but was relegated at the end of that season and again the following year, sending it to the verge of financial collapse. Managing director Christoph Wortmann said this year’s turnaround was fuelled by “team spirit, will and hard work”. On the way to the final, Arminia knocked out Bundesliga heavyweights Union Berlin, Freiburg, Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen — the latter boasting a squad worth 80 times its own. “The euphoria could not be bigger,” Wortmann informed the Financial Times of the feeling in the city ahead of the final. In a ci...

Qualifying for next season’s Uefa Champions League has never been more lucrative for European football clubs and their wealthy owners. That’s why Tottenham Hotspur’s victory over Manchester United in the Europa League final in Bilbao on Wednesday was so significant. It provided an alternative route into the Champions League for a club languishing in the lower half of the Premier League. Spurs claimed their first trophy in 17 years, but the greater reward was a guaranteed place in next season’s Champions League. Under the newly adopted Swiss format — which incorporated a league phase ahead of the knockout rounds — Europe’s premier competition has become a cash cow for participants. Uefa will distribute more than €2.4bn to the clubs in this season’s tournament, up from €2.0bn in the previous campaign. While United is considered the struggling crown jewel of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s sports empire, OGC Nice, another club in the billionaire’s portfolio, still have...

Sunderland’s trajectory has been upwards, though not without interruptions, dips and controversies. Johnson could not force the team past Lincoln City in a League One play-off semi-final in Covid-affected 2021; his team then lost 6-0 at Bolton Wanderers in February 2022. Alex Neil came in and took Sunderland up via a play-off win at Wembley against Wycombe Wanderers in May 2022, but walked out to Stoke City three months later. Tony Mowbray and Michael Beale followed Neil, with Mike Dodds a four-month caretaker last season. Regis Le Bris became the fifth manager of the new ownership last summer.   All the while, the club focused on reducing its age profile, buying young and, particularly under Mowbray, developing a playing style that had neutrals’ heads turning. The eight-man move finished by Jack Clarke at Reading in September 2022 epitomised this. February 2021: on a Tuesday night at Shrewsbury Town, Sunderland lost 2-1 to fall to seventh in their third season in League One. I...

The huge outlay in the transfer market last summer ny Birmingham City was quite striking, as they really did splash the cash following relegation, as they tried to boost their chances of an immediate return to the Championship.  The accounts noted that Birmingham had £21m net spend in 2024/25, which was a pretty clear statement of intent from the owners. To further illustrate their lofty ambitions for the club, their £25m gross spend was more than all the other clubs in League One put together (according to Transfermarkt ). The catalyst for the club’s improved outlook is the change in ownership in July 2023, when Tom Wagner’s Knighthead Capital Management took over from the deeply unpopular Birmingham Sports Holdings Ltd (BSHL). This was greeted with delight (and some relief) by Blues fans, who had suffered many trials and tribulations ever since Carson Yeung took full control of the club in 2009. After being arrested on charges of money laundering, the Hong Kong businessman ...

More Scottish clubs are in financial distress and fan spending is declining according to insolvency experts Begbies Traynor:  https://www.scottishfinancialnews.com/articles/begbies-traynor-scottish-football-clubs-face-mounting-financial-pressure-amid-reduced-fan-spending

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the Monaco-based billionaire behind chemicals empire Ineos has been fighting twin problems in business and sport. Ineos has struggled with a sector-wide downturn, linked to the faltering health of the global economy and international energy prices. And Manchester United, the football club that boyhood fan Ratcliffe bought a huge stake in last year, sits in 16th place in the Premier League as this season wraps up, two spots above relegation. It’s on course for its worst finish since 1975. Despite all that, Ratcliffe’s United has a shot at making it to Europe’s top football competition if it beats Tottenham Hotspur this evening. Win the Europa League final on Wednesday and United will qualify for the Champions League. A victory would salvage what has been a disappointing first season of ownership.   Ratcliffe joined a club struggling to recover its mojo and promised a revival. That hasn’t materialised so far. The club’s troubles on the pitch have been compoun...

The Premier League has referred Leicester City to an independent commission for an alleged breach of profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) in 2023-24.  The club, whose relegation to the Championship was confirmed last month, could face a significant points deduction when they begin next season back in the English game’s second tier. This is the latest chapter in an ongoing battle involving the club, the Premier League and the English Football League (EFL), the body which runs the Championship, plus third-tier League One and League Two, the fourth division. As Leicester have moved between England’s top two divisions over the three-year accounting period up to 2023-24, getting relegated, then promoted and now relegated again, the issue of jurisdiction was looked into by the tribunal, which found the Premier League can investigate them for alleged breaches. Leicester have been attempting to stave off PSR sanctions ever since their shock relegation from the Premi...

Everton’s new Bramley Dock stadium is to be named after legal eagles Hill Dickinson. Though it may now boast 11 offices worldwide, Hill Dickinson was founded in Liverpool back in 1810 — predating Everton by 68 years. Originally specialising in maritime law, it prospered on the city’s docks. Naming rights deals are nothing new. Six Premier League clubs have them, including Arsenal (The Emirates) and Manchester City (The Etihad). Tottenham Hotspur have been searching for a title partner since opening their new stadium in 2019. Internationally, some of the sport’s most iconic grounds have seen their names changed — from Barcelona’s Spotify Camp Nou to Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena. That is not to say they are always popular. Newcastle United fans were furious when former owner Mike Ashley branded St James’ Park as the Sports Direct Arena in 2011. Former England World Cup-winning head coach Clive Woodward accused the Rugby Football Union of “selling its soul” after the board rename...

Leeds United’s owners will issue around £120million ($160m) worth of new shares in the club ahead of their return to the Premier League. Investors have been told the nine-figure influx will be put towards Elland Road’s redevelopment and this summer’s transfer window. According to sources, who spoke to  The Athletic  under the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, senior figures in the ownership group reached out to shareholders in the days after promotion was secured. It was Burnley’s win over Sheffield United on April 21 that sealed the deal for Leeds. While some of the existing investors declined the chance to spend more, the target amount has been reached by others who have been in the ownership group since the 2023 takeover by 49ers Enterprises. With promotion secured and the dream of being back in the Premier League on the horizon, shareholders have sought to give the club its best chance of surviving relegation by stumping up more cash. The money, inve...

After lengthy delays, Fulham’s shiny, new Riverside Stand has finally opened, creating “a unique Thameside destination with first class facilities for supporters and partners on match days, as well as for the wider community year-round”. This ambitious project has increased Craven Cottage’s capacity by around 4,000 to 29,600, while it has also taken advantage of the club’s fantastic location and wealthy catchment area by including two Michelin star restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool, corporate hospitality and event space, all benefiting from views of the Thames. Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh observed, “Fulham is the sort of club that can have a business class or first class and have fans that turn left on a plane.” Indeed, there is also an exclusive members club – with a football season ticket as an optional extra. It’s fair to say that “the times they are a-changing”, as this is a long way from the traditional pie and a pint. However, in a world where clubs face the tw...

The end of May will mark 1,000 days since Morecambe were put up for sale by Bond Street Investments, a company set up by Colin Goldring and Jason Whittingham. The pair previously owned Worecster Warriors, a rugby union Premiership side who were wound up in 2022 over an unpaid tax bill. Whittingham, now in sole charge of the Shrimps, told the BBC in January that he can't wait to get out of Morecambe. The problem is that no one wants to get in, notes Chris Dunlavy in The Non-League Paper.    Fizzy drink entrepreneur Sarbjot Gorbal had plenty of bling (Givemchy track suits) but was set packing by the EFL when he could not show proof of funds. Punjab Warriors are the latest hopefuls and have been interested for ten months.  Frontman Kuljeet Singh Momi claims to have provided interest free loans to the club since October 2023.   A so-called 'positive' meeting with the EFL in March seems to have led to no progress. The underlying point is that the financial landscape ...

Crystal Palace neat Manchester City in the FA Cup final at Wembley almost 15 years to the day since the club was rescued from looming liquidation by a group of four local fans, its second escape from near-ruin in just over a decade.  Now part-owned by Apollo co-founder Josh Harris, Blackstone executive David Blitzer and tech entrepreneur John Textor, it has held its place in the Premier League since being promoted 12 years ago, despite a budget dwarfed by many of those around it.  Manchester City, owned by Abu Dhabi, is the second-richest club in global football, with revenues last year of €838mn, according to a study by Deloitte that ranks all clubs in euros. Crystal Palace is 26th on the list with just €219mn. So far, riches have correlated with trophies: during Crystal Palace’s 12-year Premier League spell alone, City has notched up seven Premier League titles, six League Cup victories, two FA Cup trophies and one Champions League. In contrast, this is Palace’s second c...

Everton have announced law firm Hill Dickinson as the naming rights partner for their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.  The new 52,888 capacity venue — which will replace Goodison Park as the men’s team’s home from next season — will be known as the Hill Dickinson Stadium. Founded in 1810, Hill Dickinson is an international commercial law firm with 11 offices across the UK, Europe and Asia, the club say. Everton claim the agreement is “one of the largest stadium naming rights deals in Europe” but have not disclosed what the finances or the length of the agreement are. Craig Scott, Hill Dickinson CEO, said: “As Hill Dickinson continues to grow internationally, we remain proud of our Liverpool roots — and we are honoured to be part of one of the most exciting waterfront developments in Europe.”

In May 2005 the Glazers bought the shareholdings of Irish businessmen JP McManus and John Magnier to take their shareholding to 76%. They did this via a highly controversial leveraged buy-out, borrowing against the club, then using United’s revenue to service the debt via staggering amounts of interest. Although Sir Jim Ratcliffe has become the central figure at Old Trafford, having responsibility for all football operations, the fact is that he only purchased 28.9% of the club. Therefore, even after this large the Glazers remain very much in control, as they still own around 49%, while the nature of their shares means that they actually have over two-thirds of the voting rights. All revenue streams have significantly increased, led by commercial £260m, followed by broadcasting £173m and match day £71m. Staff costs are also much higher, with wages and player amortisation up £288m and £163m respectively. In addition, other expenses rose £115m, while there was a £40m increase in ex...

Reading fans are over the moon after the takeover of their club was completed:  https://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/2025/5/15/24430246/after-500-days-of-torture-reading-fc-fans-can-breathe-again-royals The English Football League, who are responsible for a lot of the delays, issued a brief statement:  https://www.efl.com/news/2025/may/14/reading-football-club-under-new-ownership/

Alexis Ohanian, the husband of tennis icon Serena Williams, has bought an 8 per cent stake in Chelsea Women. Ohanian, the co-founder of the social media platform Reddit, will take a shareholding of more than £20million in a deal that values the team at about £245million — which would make it the most valuable women’s team in the world. The 42-year-old New Yorker will take a seat on the board of Chelsea Women and Williams, 43, is also expected to be engaged in the club. helsea announced a year ago that they were “repositioning” Chelsea Women so that it was a separate entity from the men’s team, and appointed the merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners to sound out prospective investors. The bank had three rival bids and Chelsea’s owners have chosen to go with Ohanian’s investment company, Seven Seven Six Capital. Significantly, he had been the majority shareholder of Angel City, the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) franchise, which last year sold for $250million (£190million), a...